Do Dee Paidang, Haymarket

The spicy noodle soups at Do Dee in Chinatown are dictated by levels 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. We’re unsure of what happened to level 4 or 6. After weeks of of toing and froing (yes, this warranted discussions weeks before we actually went for lunch here!), I end up settling for Do Dee Devil spicy level 2. It’s fine for me to eat, but I underestimated myself – I could have definitely done a bowl of level 3. Another friend who has the level 1 bowl tries a bit of the level 2 and literally starts crying. So choose wisely!

I’m pretty ecstatic when someone in our group is game to try the Do Dee Super Nova spicy level 7. He eats the entire bowl of vividly red, chilli-laden soup. I kind of wanted to give him a standing ovation. Having said that, it’s actually tolerable for me. I have a few spoonfuls, and yes it’s spicy but nothing I can’t handle. I wouldn’t want to eat the entire bowl though. It just tastes of chilli, so it’s not all that enjoyable.

If you like sharing food, get the small bowls of spicy soup instead of the jumbo servings. You can also take your pick from a list of noodles, with options like egg noodles, glass noodles or even instant noodles! In the level 2 bowl we have the rice noodles, but I prefer the vermicelli (the default for this noodle soup). Get a cold, milky drink to put out the fire of this dish. I slurp my Thai ice milk tea throughout the meal, and it does the job perfectly.

In order to balance out all the crazy chilli, we order the crispy pork belly with chinese broccoli – it’s delicious. I also enjoy the pineapple fried rice, which we order with chicken. I’m not big on pineapple in savory dishes, so I pick them out. But otherwise it’s a solid fried rice with a strong curry flavor that I really dig. We also get a serving of som tum thai (with only mild spiciness). There are five different types of som tum which is pretty awesome. I will no doubt be back to try more goodies from the Do Dee menu.